Alcohol Ink: What to know before you start creating

This is for anyone who has used alcohol inks and wants to learn more, for beginners who want to learn before they create and everyone in between. Alcohol inks are brightly colored dye based paints. Different to the paint you know and love, dye based paint soaks into the material or canvas you use instead of sitting on top of it.

Just because alcohol inks have the ability to soak into surfaces doesn't mean you want them to. You want to take advantage of their free flowing liquidity to allow blending with other inks. The most commonly used surface is Yupo paper. Yupo paper is a recyclable, waterproof, tree-free synthetic paper. It has a glossy smooth appearance which allows your inks to blend freely together without absorbing, causing you to lose color and vibrancy. Let's take a little detour to explore Yupo paper.

Attributes of Yupo paper:

• Smooth
• Allows effortless and consistent printing
• Holds ink with precision
• Durable
• Waterproof
• Tree-free
• Does not tear
• Bright white

You don't have to stick to Yupo paper for your alcohol ink art, any non-porous or slick surfaces will do. Some examples would be glass, metal, plastic and varnished wood, because alcohol ink is dye based it will soak into paper, sponge and untreated wood.
That being said you, can use alcohol ink on fabric. Alcohol ink will bleed into the fabric so vibrant colors will appear slightly more dull. Fabric being a porous surface means that you will not be able to manipulate the ink with any blowing techniques. You will want to be heavy handed with your alcohol blending solution to allow the colors to bleed further into the fabric.

So we've covered what alcohol ink is, how it can be used and the best surfaces to use it on. Let's get into the supplies you will need to start creating.

Supplies:

Alcohol Ink: Choose your desired alcohol ink, Ranger Tim Holtz alcohol ink and Jaquard alcohol ink are our most popular inks. Tim Holtz Ranger Alcohol Ink Pearls are a dry, permanent alcohol ink that can't be lifted once dry. They add a stunning pearlescent shimmer and can be blended with your regular alcohol ink.

Surface: Pick your preferred canvas whether it be Yupo paper, metal, plastic, glass, varnished wood or fabric.

Alcohol: Isopropyl alcohol helps to lift the ink off of your surface and move it around, blending it with other colors. The higher the alcohol content the better, you can find up to 99.9%.

Blending solution: Blending solution will work to blend your inks together. It will not move your inks around on the surface, that is what isopropyl alcohol is for. Think of it as mixing the coloring vs expanding and diluting the colors. You can use even use both, play around and see what you prefer.

Pipettes: You will need pipettes to draw up and apply your alcohol inks and isopropyl alcohol to your surface. You can also use eye droppers if you have them handy.

Ink cups/tray: You will need small cups or a palette to put your ink in for easy access with your pipettes

Straw: You will need a straw to blow the isopropyl alcohol and alcohol inks around to create a blended creation on your surface. A straw will create a circulate "bubble" effect with your ink as seen below.

Blow dryer: If you prefer a softer more blown out look you can use a blow dryer on low setting (air cool setting is great too). This will give you a very different effect than the straw. Try mixing both methods!

Cotton pads: Cotton pads work great to quickly absorb any excess ink or alcohol solution.

Alcohol inks are a cool way to create vibrant, eye catching artwork. You can create on a standard sheet of glossy paper, an old glass cup you have around your house, vases and more.
Some final tips and tricks to get you on your way.

Tips & Tricks

1. Choose a smooth surface when creating, this will make clean up much easier!
2. Switch up how you blend, straw, blow dryer or even an air duster, this will give you more precision.
3. If you want to stamp over your dried project make sure to use Archival Ink because it is permanent, won't fade and is resistant to light, heat and water.
4. If you are unhappy with your creation on metal, don't worry. Use some blending solution and it will be removed.
5. Putting alcohol in a spray bottle is never a good idea, stick to the pipette or dropper.